Seed, feed and breeding stock; tuolene and benzene; phenol and methanol; peanut oil and butter; salt solar and mined; corn starch, syrup, meal, germ; hides, tallow, molasses, cotton, jute, rubber, coffee, chocolate, sugar, wool--commodites aluminum to zinc, even pig iron.

The world's largest commodities trader, still privately held, has a mission as well as a bottom line and its very bigness makes the boast ring true:  it stabilizes the Market, inihibiting fluctuation.

From one grain elevator Cargill spread throughout the system, acquiring link after link in the chain until it is in a position to reduce (worldwide) the cost of matching supply to demand.  For instance:  barges carrying grain down the Mississippi must return, and coming back empty is a Cargill cardinal sin.  Even renting the space would up the cost of the load to someone.  So Cargill opened a salt mine in Louisiana.

Innovations such as the unit grain train (over a hundred cars, one transaction--reducing transport cost by half) and stainless steel-lined cargo holds for orange concentrate (to denecessitate barrels en route to processors) also cut costs.  This extends the distance products can travel profitably, putting supply within reach of demand.

Its myriad of diverse profit centers spreads risk and allows Cargill to operate at margins slim enough to murder sleep for smaller firms--it aims at a penny on the dollar.  Volatility is built into commodity prices, of course, so Cargill has made hedging a high art, offsetting the risk of large gain purchases, for example, with the simultaneous sale of futures contracts.

Agribusiness is a big word for the first of the three necessities of life, and (politics aside for a moment) the world is now one market.  To a surprising degree, Cargill has helped make that possible.